New Discoveries for Cancer Risk: Researchers Worldwide Take Part in one of History's Largest Scientific Consortium

PRNewswire

10-10-13

MONTREAL, Oct. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Hundreds of researchers from North
America, Europe, Australia and Asia have joined together in a consortium to
identify the genetic basis of the five most common forms of cancer - breast,
prostate, lung, ovarian and colorectal. The group, called the OncoArray
Consortium, developed a new customized genotyping tool - the OncoArray -
manufactured by the U.S. genomics firm Illumina, Inc.

"The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Genetic Associations and
Mechanisms of Oncology (GAME-ON) initiative has been instrumental in bringing
together multiple consortia and provides primary funding for the OncoArray
Consortium. It allowed us to design a custom array that incorporates some
530,000 markers, which is planned for genotyping on over 425,000 samples from
patients with one of the five types of cancer and control subjects from around
the world. The sheer size of the sample is unprecedented for a study on the
genetic factors involved in cancer. The OncoArray Consortium's work will provide
insight into the inherited genetic basis of cancer and help scientists
understand the underlying biology of cancer," explained Professor Christopher
Amos, Head of Dartmouth's Center for Genomic Medicine, in the US, and the leader
of the Lung Cancer consortium.

This project is a direct extension of the work that has been achieved in recent
years through the Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study (COGS). "The
OncoArray will allow us to enhance our current understanding of the genetic
factors associated with the risk of multiple cancers," explained Cancer Research
UK funded Professor Douglas Easton of University of Cambridge (United Kingdom).
"We are proud to be involved in this international initiative, which will
significantly accelerate the pace of discovery and lead to a greater
understanding of a disease that affects one in three people," he continued.

About 200 studies are involved in this project and nearly 50 countries
participate in the consortium.

Breast cancer samples will represent more than one-third of the samples under
analysis. "This is the largest number of samples ever used for research into the
genetic basis of breast cancer risk," noted Universite Laval Professor Jacques
Simard, who works at the Genomics Centre of the CHU de Quebec Research Centre,
and chair holder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics. Quebec is at the
forefront of this study, since the results will be used for a Quebec-based
project aiming to improve the early detection of breast cancer, an initiative
funded by Genome Quebec, Genome Canada, the CIHR and the Quebec Breast Cancer
Foundation. "The work of Professor Jacques Simard will broaden our current
understanding of this terrible disease, leading to better risk stratification
tools that will increase our ability to deliver better-targeted screening
services to those women at higher risk," said Marc LePage, President and CEO of
Genome Quebec.

Leading efforts in prostate cancer are Brian Henderson and Ros Eeles. "The
OncoArray will provide fresh clues to the origin of these cancers and will
hasten novel approaches to prevention and treatment," Dr. Henderson said. "Every
year 220,000 men in the US are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and there are
30,000 deaths. This indicates many people are being treated who don't need it.
We hope this product will help us focus on the men who have the highest risk to
the more fatal forms of this disease."

"This new research consortium will give us a fantastic opportunity to look at
huge numbers of gene variants in prostate cancer patients across the world,
helping expand our knowledge of the genetic basis of this disease," said Ros
Eeles, Professor of Oncogenetics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London,
which along with the University of Cambridge.

Leading efforts in colorectal cancer is Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Chair in Cancer
Prevention, Keck Medicine of USC, and Stephen Gruber, director, USC Norris
Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck Medicine of USC. Leading efforts in breast
cancer on behalf of the US NCI are David J. Hunter, Dean for Academic Affairs,
Harvard School of Public Health; for ovarian cancer the US NCI leader is Tom
Sellers, Director of the Moffit Cancer Center in Florida. In addition, the
Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2, led by Georgia
Chenevix-Trench, will genotype the OncoArray on about 30,000 women and men who
carry mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

The project is funded through major grants from the U.S. National Cancer
Institute to the GAME-ON initiative and the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and
Genetics; Genome Canada/Genome Quebec/CIHR/Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation
through the Personalized Risk Stratification for Prevention and Early Detection
of Breast Cancer; Cancer Research UK (Cambridge University and The Institute of
Cancer Research); Movember and Prostate Cancer UK (The Institute of Cancer
Research) and EU's FP7 grant program (COGS), together with many other partners.
About OncoArray Consortium About Genome Quebec
Visit the Website Visit the Website

About Cancer Research UK About CHU de Quebec
Visit the Website Visit the Website

About COGS About Dartmouth's Center for Genomic Medicine
Visit the Website Visit the Website

About Harvard School of Public Health About Institute of Cancer Research London UK
Visit the Website Visit the Website

About Keck Medicine of USC Moffit Cancer Center in Florida
Visit the Website Visit the Website

About National Cancer Institute (USA) About Queensland institute of Medical Research
Visit the Web site Visit the Website

About Universite Laval About University of Cambridge
Visit the Website Visit the Website

SOURCE Genome Quebec

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